Boxing, Kickboxing and Thai Boxing fundanentals. We train with gloves, focus mitts, speed bags, heavy bags, Thai Pads and sparring. We combine this with high intensity training using functional movements from gymnastics and weightlifting. Located in Plainfield, Illinois. Check here for out current schedule, next practice time will be listed below. We are a free club. Come join us! You can contact me by email under the "About Me" tab.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

This is definitely wacky stuff. Both people are tethered to the table and tied to the other person by the hand. Supposedly you can win by pinning the hand (arm wrestling) or knocking them out. This "sport" was started by one the people who started the original "Ultimate Fighting Championship". If you want more info or videos on this craziness check out http://www.xarm.com/

Monday, October 27, 2008

Quick update on my Beta-alanine experiment. Due to a few injuries that I experienced during my three week trial I was unable to complete the full trial (I couldn't train or go all out while injured). I will offer a few insights into taking Beta-alanine:

Its easier to take the full dose all at once (not divided throughout the day.

The tingling sensation can be very annoying and may interfere with training.

My first few days I followed the recommendation of taking multiple small doses throughout the day to minimize the tingling sensation - didn't work (pills I had were 800mg) and I had the tingling feeling all day which made me rather irratable. When I changed to taking the full dose all at once - the tingling level was the same but only lasted a few hours as opposed to all day long.

While the tingling sensation is harmless it is annoying and may take your focus away from training or possibly during a fight.

I will be trying this supplement again in the future to give it a fair trial.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

We are taking a step back in grappling and working primarily on position and transitions in positioning to get a better foundation. It is easy to over reach and immediately go for your final aim, in this case submissions. I appreciate the traditional Brazilian Jui Jitsu (BJJ) approach of learning positions, transitions and finally submissions (position before submission). A solid foundation is essential in any pursuit, building a house on shaky ground only leads to disaster. With that in mind we are working the basics to start, not that we won’t address the basic joint locks but our emphasis will be learning how to move and where to move to (positions and transitions).After further searching I found a few videos that address these areas and we’ll be using the basic exercises presented in these videos (the initial video I posted is fantastic but too advanced right now, we’ll have to work up to the drills they presented). Most of this information I know but haven’t seen presented as actual drills – and they do an excellent job.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

We are continuing our basic/introductory training in ground fighting. My experience in teaching groundfighting is limited and as a result I'm learning as much about teaching it as Tony is in learning the basics. As a result I'll be including more warmup drills emphasizing movement on the ground starting with our next workout on Saturday.

I had planned on working the arm bar in the guard but didn't want information overload. The sit up drill we used for the kimura was simply performing the setup for the kimura (trapping the wrist, sit-up and reach over to your own wrist, back down and repeat on opposite side).

The warmup drills we'll be incorporating involve some of the ones in the following video:(Post comments, questions or suggestions to "Comments" below)

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Due to scheduling conflicts with trainees we have been off for the past few weeks. In addition to a few shoulder/neck injuries of mine – the first after doing heavy double and triple thai kicks on the bag and a week later doing heavy push jerks at the gym.

Our first workout back was fairly light and technique based. We worked primarily on the bob and weave and some basic grappling techniques on the new mats.